1000's of tools at auction (long)
Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI
>A friend at work pointed out an auction bill that said "1000's of tools" for an auction yesterday, Nov. 13, in Elkhart, IN. They specifically mentioned 100-150 saws, 300 ball peen hammers, 20+ large crosscut saws, and several other tools. I was kind of hyped up on it, as I am now registered to sell on the bay and am intersted in trying a little bit of this tool dealing thing and see what that's like. I could buy a bunch of tools and just sell what I needed to pay for the ones I want to keep. Sounds like a great plan.
Yesterday dawned bright and clear but chilly, so I put on the extra clothing and headed out. The directions on the auction bill were not real clear; for instance, it said "take Rt 20 to Rd 33 and turn right". Well if you were heading west maybe you would turn right, but if you were heading east you would turn left, wouldn't you? I ended up only missing one road, and found the general neighborhood with no problems and then saw a sign for an auction and went to the wrong auction. I ended up pointing out to them on the bill where it said they were starting at 9 am after they told me the auction wouldn't start until 10 am. They then pointed out to me that that bill was for a different auction. That made me feel real intelligent, but I looked around for any good tools, and didn't see any there, so I left to find the other auction down the road another mile. Here was the right auction; a number of trucks pulled off the street, but not too many. I started looking around at a few of the large circualr saw blades he had setting around outside, and thought maybe I could use one for a shop clock, but then wodered if I really wanted a clock in the shop. I decided to go looking for the good tools, wandering back through table after table of stuff to the back of the pile. And here they were; 100 to 150 saws, setting outside in the rain, sleet and snow for the last 20 years. I started looking to see if there were any salvageable saw nuts, and realized that all the parts that were any good had already been stripped off the saws. I looked around for planes, and found 2; a #65 that had set outside in the rain, sleet and snow for the last 20 years; there are no words in the English language to describe it's condition, so I will go into the German; "%^%*&#$^@%$#". Next I found the ball peen hammers that had been setting outside in the rain, sleet and snow for 20 years; here there were some that he had taken the wire wheel grinder and made to look like they were almost new, but what they really looked like is once again found in the German above. I kind of laughed at myself for working myself up into such a high level of anticipation and finding such a disappointment.
The auctioneer started his spiel and mentioned that they would be starting a ring on the tools sometime in the afternoon, and I figured this was my signal to make like a tree and leave. They started selling a few items I hadn't seen, in a box off the table right by the auctioneer, and held up some small ball peen hammers and I thought I'd see what else was in the box before I left. Here were about 10 hammers that he must have kept inside. I ended up getting two small ball peens, maybe 2-4 ozs, and a really neat little solid brass ball peen hammer all of 3-1/2" long; handle and head solid brass, ended up paying $11 for it cause it was the nicest tool at that auction and I knew I wouldn't be spending any more money.
I had a valuable lesson on what it is really like to be a tool dealer, found one pretty nice tool, and stopped to visit an old friend in Elkhart, so overall it was a really good day; plus I made it home in time to rake the yard ;)
